Firefighting
by Tobirion
Summary: Cloud has a slightly unhealthy obsession. He's in love with Nibelheim's firemen. Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud


**I'd like to thank my friend Amanda for giving me this completely random idea. It turns out she lives across the street from a firehouse, right? So whenever there's a fire somewhere, she sits in her window and watches the 'cute firemen' go about their business. And that was how this was born. XD Seph/Zack/Cloud... mostly.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII. ;.;**

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Cloud preferred to think that what he was doing wasn't creepy.

He settled himself more comfortably onto the wide ledge of his windowsill and looked out the glass, directing his gaze onto the building across the street.

A shape passed across one of the windows briefly, and Cloud held his breath. Who was it this time? He had made it a game to guess who each one was whenever he saw them. Knowing he was probably going to hell, Cloud checked his watch. It was about dinnertime; surely someone would accidentally tip their grill or the pizza shop's ovens would overheat?

Cloud Strife was obsessed with Nibelheim's firemen.

It wasn't the healthiest obsession to have—he spent more time than he should have up in his window, and he often found himself…wishing things. Like, he'd see a candle, and almost without thinking he'd knock the thing over, frantically patting the mini-fire out once he realized what he did.

If he didn't get some action soon, he was going to burn his own house down.

Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin when the screaming noise of the fire alarm came from across the street. He hugged his knees happily, waiting.

Within a minute the firemen were peeling out of the building, one shoving a half-eaten sandwich in his mouth. Cloud sighed dreamily as he watched a dark-haired man sprint out of the building and hop into the fire truck.

All his time being… interested in the men had taught him a few things. That was Zack. He was always the one who comforted the sobbing mothers.

Another man appeared seconds later, struggling to fit his long, silver hair into this helmet. Usually Zack helped him with it. Cloud made a breathy noise, fogging up the windowsill and rubbing the moisture away with his fist. Sephiroth.

Sandwich-man shouted something and leaped into the front seat. That was Reno. Angeal and Genesis came out next, jumping in and slapping the side of the truck. Reno stepped on the gas and they raced away. The whole thing took under two minutes. Cloud watched it until it went out of sight.

Dazed, Cloud staggered to his bed and sank down onto it, staring at the ceiling. His eyes fluttered shut, and Cloud happily let his over-imaginative mind take over.

…_The whole house was up in flames. Cloud sprang out of bed, eyes wide as he watched his door become engulfed in flames. He flung open his window, feeling strangely calm. Sure enough, standing on the little roof outside his window that only appeared in his dreams was Zack. The man (who was shirtless, for some reason) held out his hand, and Cloud reached down and took it._

_Gently Zack helped him out of the window, holding him tight. He cupped his face and whispered, "I'm so glad you're okay, Cloud."_

"_Me too," he answered, and both shared a bout of gut-busting laughter for some reason. Even though the house was burning, Zack lowered his face and kissed him. Cloud happily responded, tilting his head up and opening his mouth, letting Zack know it was okay to deepen the kiss._

_Eventually they broke away. There were more pressing matters to attend to. Cloud crawled to the end of the magically-appearing roof and looked down. _

_Sephiroth stood there on the ground, also missing his shirt. He stretched up his arms and said softly, though Cloud caught every word, "…Jump, baby. I'll catch you."_

"_Do it," Zack agreed, kissing the shell of his ear and rubbing his side. "These flames are kinda dangerous."_

_A different kind of flame was ignited inside him at Zack's touch, but he nodded, smiling at Sephiroth. The man on the ground beckoned him down with his fingers, and Cloud slung both legs over the side before fluidly dropping, being surrounded by corded muscle before he could hit the ground._

"_I've got you," Sephiroth whispered into his hair, not letting him down just yet._

"_Thank you," Cloud sighed, kissing the man's cheek. He was hot. Sephiroth gently put him down and nudged him to the side a bit, holding up his arms again._

_He caught Zack this time, immediately and nicely receiving the oral onslaught that followed. He was hot. Cloud watched them go at it, any thoughts as to whether his mother was okay or not flying out his ears. _

_As a shirtless and leather-panted Genesis hosed down the house, he was tugged into two warm embraces, one set of lips sucking gently at the pulse in his neck, and the other barely brushing his earlobe before nipping gently with teeth. He was hot. Cloud moaned freely, tugging at Sephiroth's hair and pressing his rear into Zack's uniformed crotch. He was hot—_

He was hot.

Cloud's eyes opened blearily, immediately snapping over to his alarm clock. He had been sleeping for _seven hours_. What a nap!

He didn't feel refreshed, though—his blankets were all sticky, and not sticky in the good way that normally followed such dreams. What a dream it _was_, though!

Cloud irritably kicked off the sweaty blankets, stripping himself of his shirt and standing up. It finally kicked in that it was hot. Too hot. There was shouting outside.

Flinging open his door, Cloud blinked at the flames roaring in the guest bedroom down the hall. He finally realized that the smoke alarms were going off.

Then, he screamed.

It wasn't any good trying to run down the stairs—the fire was blocking it. Dammit, if this was Fenrir's fault—

Something crashed in his bedroom, and Cloud skidded back inside, heart beating frantically. There was an _arm_ reaching through the glass, a hammer clutched in its fist. Deft fingers unlocked the window, and the arm retreated, only to throw it open from the outside a few seconds later.

Zack Fair crawled into the bedroom, and Cloud's mouth fell open.

Sephiroth came in not ten seconds after that, and Cloud almost fainted.

The two men stared at the barefoot, shirtless blond boy with the blue eyes bigger than plates for a few beats, then sprang into action. Zack approached him slowly, gas mask swinging around his neck.

"…You know your house is on fire, right?" Zack asked kindly, smiling. Cloud nodded dumbly.

Sephiroth grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the window. "Come on," he said calmly, like they weren't in danger of frying. He swung two long legs out and started going down slowly.

"Go on," Zack said, giving him a small push in the small of his back. "You go after Sephiroth. I'll follow you. He'll make sure you'll be okay if you fall—you won't, by the way. Just in case. 'Kay, Spiky?" He laughed and ruffled Cloud's hair. He sounded as calm as Sephiroth, but Cloud could hear the subtle note of urgency.

Almost mechanically, Cloud leant out the window and looked down. Zack's fingers automatically curled into the back of his sweatpants, in an effort to keep him from falling. Good thing he was wearing briefs. The fire truck was right in front of their house, and Reno and another firefighter named Vincent were frantically messing with a fire hydrant. The alarm was still shrieking. Cloud's mother was on the grass below, sobbing.

Sephiroth gave him a tiny smile from a few rungs down, beckoning him down, just like he had in his dream.

Cloud swallowed thickly, sent Zack a terrified look and stuck one leg out the window. Holding his breath and after giving his sweltering room a last look, he began climbing down. No convenient ledge—this was three floors of ladder. Angeal was at the bottom, keeping track of the thing.

Zack kept saying things to him as he descended, telling him he was doing a great job so he wouldn't panic. Halfway down Cloud's dreamy, half-there state evaporated, and he froze, blindly clinging to the metal. Sephiroth reached up and haphazardly patted his calf, the only part of him that he could reach, and Cloud was okay again. At the bottom Sephiroth got off and stood on the ground, holding his arms out, again like in his dream. Cloud gladly fell into them from the fourth rung, burying his face in the man's neck and trying to block out some of the sound. Zack hopped down then, and Angeal hurriedly moved the ladder, shouting something to a blond. Cid, his name was. Probably.

"You okay?" Sephiroth asked as he carried him over to his mom.

"Of course," Cloud replied without really thinking about it. Truth was, he was _more_ than okay, even though he knew his house was on fire. He had a _total_ stiffy, and he was hoping Sephiroth couldn't feel it.

Gently, he was placed on the ground and was embraced by his mother, who fawned all over him. His attention was on the house, though. Thick black smoke drifted out the guest room's windows, but he couldn't see any more actual fire.

"It's out," Sephiroth confirmed after getting something on a walkie-talkie.

What followed was a stretch of silence that really wasn't all that silent. But eventually, Zack turned to him and said, "We've seen you watching us from your room sometimes."

Cloud went so red it was a miracle his heart was still beating with so much less blood.

Zack gave him a knowing look, grinning. "So you wanna be a firefighter, or somethin'?"

There was an angry shout of "the second fucking one today!" but Zack ignored it.

Cloud's face went purple as he stuttered, "O-oh…y-yeah…"

Cloud's mom looked up sharply at the comment, but was distracted when a firefighter named Reeve came up and started talking about the problems with her. Fenrir, the family's dog, had chewed the wires in the guest room… blah blah blah… sparks… blahdy blah blaaah… shit happened from there. No lasting damages, though the smoke hadn't been kind. Cloud's mom smacked Fenrir's butt and left him to whine softly by himself on the lawn. Cloud felt bad, but… Fenrir kinda deserved it.

He stood there uncomfortably, staring at the ground. Face still showing the last vestiges of a serious blush, he looked up when Zack stopped in front of him after saying something to Genesis.

Sephiroth stopped speaking to Angeal and stood next to Zack when the man said, "So… if you ever wanna know more about 'being a firefighter…' come on around!" He pointed a gloved finger at the fire station, though it was unnecessary. He leered, "We can teach you _everything_ about it…"

Sephiroth nodded, throwing an arm around Zack's shoulders and staring at him through heavily lashed green eyes. Cloud's eyes widened, and he once again blushed to the roots of his hair, eyes going wide.

"…What's your name?" Sephiroth asked after a minute.

After a pause, Cloud said, "Cloud." He had dreamed about meeting both of them many times, just maybe not like this. They probably thought he was an unfeeling robot or something.

Slowly, they smiled. "Cloud," Zack repeated, ruffling his hair again.

An hour later, as Cloud curled up on the couch at his aunt's, he couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. He closed his eyes and remembered the way Zack's hands were so warm and the way Sephiroth's smile seemed to make the whole world brighter. He'd met his two secret crushes, even though his house had almost been a goner in the process.

Maybe he'd take them up on their offer. He'd make damn _sure_ that 'teaching him how to be a firefighter' turned into fucking. _Lots_ of fucking.

Screw being a dentist.


End file.
